Reggie Bush looked out last August from the rooftop deck of the Coliseum, the stadium where he became a star two decades earlier, flanked by attorneys on either side. The famed Trojan back was in the stadium to announce a lawsuit against the NCAA, an opening salvo in the legal fight to clear his name. But for a moment, between shots at the NCAA, Bush let himself imagine a day when his Heisman Trophy was returned and he could once again lead USC’s football team out onto the field below.
“I’ve got dreams of coming back in this stadium and running out of that tunnel,” Bush said. “I’ve got dreams of walking back in here and seeing my jersey and my banner right down there next to the rest of the Heisman Trophy winners. But I can’t rightfully do that without my Heisman Trophy.”
Those dreams had been deferred during a decade of NCAA-imposed exile, when USC was forced to disassociate entirely from Bush. Resentment festered in the meantime, as Bush and his peers questioned why the school hadn’t fought harder to defend him.
The relationship remained complicated, even after USC officially welcomed Bush back in 2020. But three years later, efforts were being taken by USC to repair it. The school had just jointly filed a petition with Bush and his attorneys to lobby the NCAA for reconsideration in its 2010 case. Jennifer Cohen, who had just taken the job as USC’s athletic director, was already signaling an eagerness to bring Bush back into the Trojan family. Support for the former Trojan star now stretched all the way up to the office of USC president Carol Folt, who personally signed off on the petition to the NCAA.
When Bush got the Heisman back in April, USC toasted the trophy’s “rightful return” and praised Bush for showing “the utmost resiliency and heart throughout this process.” That summer, with the trophy now in hand, USC and Bush’s team began discussing dates for his tunnel dream to become a reality.
On Aug. 28, in an interview with The Times, Bush said the two sides hadn’t settled on a date, but that plans for him to lead USC’s football team out of the tunnel were “definitely in the works.”
“I can’t wait for it to happen,” he said. “My wife and kids will be there as well. It will be an amazing day and an amazing opportunity, and I look forward to that day.”
“It’s not even something USC would need to ask me. It’s already a yes.”
In reality, Bush and USC had already set a date for his triumphant return, only for the running back to reverse course. The two sides agreed in early August that Bush would be honored ahead of the home opener against Utah State on Sept. 7. Preparations were already being made at the Coliseum to retire his number and immortalize his No. 5 jersey in the stadium.
But the same week that Bush told The Times how eager he was to lead the Trojans out of the tunnel, Bush’s team told USC that the timing wasn’t right.
Before Bush got involved with USC again, he and his legal team had two requests from the school, Levi McCathern, his attorney, told The Times.
Number one was for USC to “get behind us and try and get these records reinstated” by the NCAA.
“He felt like USC should get strongly behind that effort,” McCathern said of Bush.
Number two was the bolder ask: Bush believed USC should reimburse the running back for “the attorneys’ fees that he incurred trying to get the Heisman Trophy.”
“Can you look at how much money Reggie spent out of his pocket on attorneys? Which is a lot, because he had attorneys before me as well trying to get the Heisman Trophy back,” McCathern said. “Could you look at that and see if you couldn’t reimburse him some of the money he did, since y’all now have the trophy sitting in your [lobby] that you use with recruits and all that?”
McCathern said he was “almost embarrassed talking … about how reasonable” their requests were. The university declined anyway.
“Part of getting Reggie’s Heisman back, we got the Heisman back for USC as well. So their trophy was returned to them. Which is obviously something they can use to market,” McCathern continued. “But there still wasn’t really any interest at all from them in trying to reimburse Reggie for what he had to do to get it back. And again, without getting too deep into the entire process, obviously no one on the non-Reggie Bush side was rushing forward to try and right the wrongs that happened to Reggie.”
Still, Bush was on the sideline, smiling in USC gear, before the Trojans’ season opener in Las Vegas. But behind the scenes, USC and Bush’s attorneys had reached a stalemate.
“Reggie got tired of waiting,” McCathern said.
On Sept. 23, McCathern’s law office sent out a newsrelease announcing that Bush was suing USC, as well as the NCAA and Pac-12, “for profiting from uncompensated use of [his] name, image and likeness.”
The release was the first USC had heard of Bush’s plans to file suit.
The complaint states that USC, as well as the NCAA and Pac-12, “reaped a tremendous financial reward from using Reggie Bush’s name, image and likeness while he was playing college football on television” and that Bush is now “entitled to restitution of all profits earned by defendants” through use of his name.
How much Bush is asking for in restitution from USC and the other two defendants is unclear. McCathern said that experts told him USC made “hundreds of millions” off of his client’s name, image and likeness through various revenue streams. McCathern also told The Times he never actually broached the topic of back NIL pay with USC before the lawsuit was filed. He said that was because the school already denied the request to pay attorneys’ fees.
“The next step in that process obviously would’ve been talking about, can we get some small percentage?” McCathern said.
Now those efforts to recoup what Bush believes he’s owed have spilled into public view, leaving USC in an awkward place with one of its biggest and most visible stars. A relationship that once seemed to be on the mend may never be fully repaired.
USC declined to comment on any specifics of Bush’s lawsuit. But in a statement to The Times, USC said support for Bush would endure in spite of the ongoing litigation.
“USC loves Reggie,” a university spokesperson said. “Our fans love Reggie. He is at the core of some of the best memories in our storied tradition. Our goal throughout this entire process has been to ensure the Trojan Family can celebrate Reggie and all he has accomplished at every opportunity. That is what motivated us as we worked to have his Heisman Trophy reinstated in the spring. That is what motivated us as we returned No. 5 to the Peristyle inside the Coliseum this fall. That is what motivates us as we engage with the Big Ten and NCAA to discuss the potential of having his records reinstated. That is why we have invited him back to the Coliseum to lead the team out of the tunnel.
“It’s also why we were surprised, in the midst of an ongoing dialogue with Reggie’s team, to find out about this lawsuit through a press release. We can’t comment on the lawsuit because it’s ongoing. That said, Reggie is a Trojan for life, and we remain committed to restoring and honoring his legacy and celebrating him with our fans at every opportunity.”
Bush and his legal team now believe that legacy will someday include Bush as “the face of this step for other college athletes” who hope to recoup lost NIL pay. His defamation case against the NCAA also remains ongoing, in spite of the organization’s many efforts to throw out the case.
McCathern reiterated that the NCAA, not USC, was still the central focus of Bush’s legal ire. He added that he welcomed the chance to “talk with USC about any ways to work these things out. Or any of the other defendants.”
“I wish everybody would sit down around a table and just work things out, but unfortunately, it seems like that’s not the way things happen in our society,” McCathern said.
Bush, his attorney says, is still hopeful that he can repair the relationship with his alma mater. Albeit with certain conditions.
“I think USC oughta sit down and take a look at what they made off of Reggie,” McCathern said, “and see if they don’t think it’s fair that Reggie gets some portion of that back.”
